>>11703588> the USSR was so far aheadWas it?
Sputnik 1 was 4 October 1957.
Explorer 1 was 31 January 1958.
Vostok 1 was 12 April 1961.
Freedom 7 was 5 May 1961.
Then the satellites/capsules weren't equal in capability like Freedom 7 being mostly controlled by a pilot who landed with the craft against Vostok 1 being automatically controlled with the pilot ejecting from the capsule in the atmosphere.
USSR certainly achieved more firsts, but that didn't translate into substantially more orbital capability in the 1960s.
Then in the corollary field of ICBMs, the missile gap was entirely made up by the likes of the CIA.
